On Friday the 31st March I attending a live Ted Talk event in Hull. OMG I was so excited esp as I’ve watch a few Ted talks on YouTube and most importantly because Jody Day was giving her very first talk. And I was there to experience it!!!  The event was labelled ‘From Where I Stand’ where 10 speakers presented their talks, on varies topics from ‘How culture is messy and how that’s good’, ‘Alien worlds and extraterrestrial life – where are they?” to ‘Alograve: algorithmic dance” and “The surprising things I learned exploring the planet earth”. 

Jody’s talk was titled “The lost tribe of childless women” and I have to say, Jody was amazing. Jody presented our (childless women’s) reality of living in this world where we can find it difficult to truly belong. Jody talked about how we are perceived and sometimes not accepted including how others (with children) try and fix us with their endless misunderstanding of what we are going through. I just loved her term ‘bingo questions’, because on a good day you can get a full house’ which listed questions such as; “…have you thought of adoption and did you hear about the 50 year old who’d just given birth in….”  ARGGGGGGGH!!! BIG SIGH!!!!!

I felt that Jody set out to challenge the mindsets of those who have probably never really considered our position in society or feelings around being childless before (and maybe in some respects she challenged their own perceptions and also where they feel they are positioned in their circles). It was great to be a part of this historic moment. Keep an eye out for her Ted talk link…